“It’s not acceptable. We’re not getting the job done, and players know it’s not acceptable. The way it manifests itself is I don’t sleep. So I haven’t slept much.”

“But,” added Burke, the Flames president of hockey operations, “I’ve been through this before.”

A franchise-low seven straight home losses with just four goals in that frame, the Flames are in the type of tailspin fans should, quite frankly, have expected in the midst of an extensive and long overdue rebuild.

However, unlike the first 37 games of this season, during which the Flames lost with relative grace and good fight, the floodgates have now opened on a team that appears destined not only for the NHL’s basement but perhaps the franchise’s worst season ever.

Insisting he’s not interested in short-terms fixes, Burke reiterated Friday the coaching staff is not to blame for the club’s recent nosedive and is still safe for the rest of the season.

“The coaching staff isn’t going anywhere — I think they’re doing a fine job,” said Burke, sticking to his Dec. 12 promise made the day he fired GM Jay Feaster.

“We’re still having trouble scoring goals and keeping them out of our net. And we’re small. But there are two building blocks I see — that the work ethic matches or exceeds opponents’ and that we stay in the system.

“We’re doing both things. We can’t get to the next level without doing those two things first.”

While it was the team’s hallmark early in the year, many locals have questioned the team’s work ethic of late, as the one-goal games have turned into three-, four- and five-goal cakewalks.

The fans are getting restless and, while it’s evident the roster simply doesn’t include enough skill or … um … truculence to match most teams, surely the paying public deserves better than this.

“You can get the day-to-day stuff from the team — I’m letting the coach do the talking on that,” said Burke when pressed further on the team’s shortcomings.

“My view is a GM should address the media after trades and major moves. I addressed the team after I made the changes. They know how I feel.”

Burke also steadfastly refuses to delve into his search for Feaster’s replacement but did hint it’s more than likely the team won’t have a GM in place until after the NHL Draft on June 27-28.

That’s when most management types around the league have windows in their contracts allowing them to advance their careers elsewhere.

“There’s no hurry,” Burke said.“We’re not ever going to discuss the GM search. We do care what the fans think.

“It can’t drive what we do, but we’re cognizant they want to know what’s going on.It doesn’t serve us any purpose to conduct this search publicly.

“If we do have to wait, it means some of the guys on the list won’t be available until after the season or the draft — that’s not a bad thing because it means we’re waiting for the right person.”

Meanwhile, the losses mount as does fan fury, which may explain the fights in the crowd late in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at the Saddledome. (Then again, alcohol likely does a better job explaining such boorishness.)

As frustrated, impatient and sleep-deprived as he is, Burke can’t stress enough that he’ll do nothing to sacrifice long-term gain in an attempt to stem short-term pain.

“It’s not acceptable. We’re not getting the job done, and players know it’s not acceptable. The way it manifests itself is I don’t sleep. So I haven’t slept much.”

“But,” added Burke, the Flames president of hockey operations, “I’ve been through this before.”

A franchise-low seven straight home losses with just four goals in that frame, the Flames are in the type of tailspin fans should, quite frankly, have expected in the midst of an extensive and long overdue rebuild.